Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Yesterday I played a great session of Matrix RPG. Got to say I loved it. I played a Zion resistance soldier called "Breaker" my outstanding Matrix feat was a sonic blast I can use as a weapon. Noelle played "Rico-Shay" the hot shot pilot of the Isis our hovercraft. Brian played "Sun Bear" the captain of the Isis and our Matrix programming expert. Together we went out to recover three blue pills or plugged in people as they call them. One John, a so called Kayla and Silva a dropped out burnt student.

I had my doubts about John, or John GQ as I'd end up calling him. Too elegant this kid and I doubted he could endure the hardship of being unplugged. I feared another Cipher But my fears were never to be realized. As we jumped into the Matrix a strange figure got to him first and dissolved his body with a flesh eating virus and stole his eyes. Even though we got there a few minutes past without him taking the red pill there was no way to track his real body and recover it and with it some hope of saving him.

In the commotion created by Rico-Shay jumping from building to building and failing we managed to review the crime scene. Yes she actually fell and drew the cops and emergency team to her. At the crime scene I recovered a swab of John GQ's flesh for analysis and his computer which had a webcam running.

Forensics done in the loading program on the Isis allowed us to review the laptop and get a glimpse of the perpetrator. A strange figure known as the Sandman. Even stranger was what we found on John GQ's body. It was a fast acting virus that causes necrosis. We decompiled it (remember the virus is actually a program), but were unable to find any leads from the way it was built or who built it.

Our luck changed a bit when we went after Kayla. Stubborn as she was she did not heed our warning to meet us in a nearby cemetery. In a small church located inside the cemetery she was cough by the Sandman's minions who were cramming her dead body into a cross. We got there a minute too late to save her, but managed to deal with these creatures. They appeared to be hypnotized or under some type of control. Bullets did little harm so I tried my sonic blast against their heads effectively blasting away their brains and clearing the scene. Rico-Shay tried her pyrokinetic powers and lit some up along with a cross. Although we were too late to save Kayla we found a lead. A smuggler who we could meet and get some information from. We contacted him and set up a meeting the next day at a local bar.

To close off the day we quickly moved to recover our third blue pill, Mr. Silva, who we successfully recovered from a bar. We did the whole blue pill red pill drill quite quickly. Actually being a junkie himself I'm not sure he actually realized the choice he was making, he kinda snatched the red pill out of our hands to swallow it. Nonetheless he enjoyed the trip that's for sure. He sleeps in the Isis for now, his body recovering from never having been used before.

The following day we geared up in the loading program and went down to meet this guy, the smuggler. We walked in not knowing who to meet so we asked for a drink. Myself I asked for a gin and tonic. Fortunately the bartender was unable to put the tonic on the gin before some fellows stood up and threatened us. I slowly turned around with my gin in hand, Sun Bear drew out his AK and Rico-Shay turned to face them as well. As Sun Bear opened fire I blew a banshee scream against the glass sending it against these guys as fast flying shrapnel. Rico-Shay used her power to lite up the alcohol which turned the whole mix of bullets, glass and flaming alcohol into a killer fireball. Only two bodyguards and the smuggler were left standing after this.

At that point we started "negotiating" with him. We obtained as much information as we could about the Sandmand and his intentions, who built the virus and how much more of it was there. The session ended there with us deliberating if we should send this smuggler back to the source or let him be and become useful at some later time.

On the game itself I have to say I really liked the mechanics. It's got 5 attributes, a simple mechanism for skills and feats and I was up and playing without even reading the manual. The checks are done with d10 die pools against your attributes and your Cyberzen which is how tuned into the Matrix your character is and how easy it is for him or her to bend the Matrix.

Tre' Grisby did a fine job at picking the maps and scenarios for the adventure. Some great work for the buildings and the cemetery. It really helped with the setting and getting the action moving fast.

Overall I found the game great to play, quick to get into the action and exactly what I'd expect from a Matrix RPG. In a computer world were bullet-time is the norm your mechanics have to be exceedingly fast and that's what Tre'Grisby gets right with this game.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

This past week has got me absorbed in the fatigue rules and how to determine actions per round based on character endurance. This has brought me to the point of initiative. More precisely, to question if is it a good thing to win initiative. In the highly abstracted OD&D combat mechanism the answer is yes. In other combat mechanism it's not always yes.

Claytonian JP put up an interesting link yesterday which explains the mechanics pretty well. If the combat round and in particular the combat roll represents the average of a set of swings, moves and evasions. Then yes to win initiative is to place the first killer blow. But in OD&D characters don't wear out during combat. A character is just as fresh defending from one opponent in a round as from three. Even if that means dealing with two more attacks.

Working from a less abstracted fatigue mechanism in which there is no single roll representing a set of actions, but rather a roll by roll definition of attacks and parries, taking the initiative isn't always such a good thing. With fatigue rules you have to pay to parry and pay to dodge. If you're facing many opponents you may run out of breath before dodging them all. So holding your attack may be a good strategy. That is if you survive.

Using fatigue rules you can defeat a big monster because monsters wear out too. A ravaging giant may blitz you and attack and attack and attack. If your character is good he keeps his strength and attacks. Counter striking when fatigue kicks in and the giant is tired and beginning to endure penalties for it. Slower dodges and parries on the giant's part make your attacks more effective. These type of strategies are not really possible in OD&D in part due to the highly abstracted combat and in part due to the fact that combatants don't fatigue!!

As D&D rules progressed combat abstraction seemed to fade. Feats, movements, attacks of opportunity, etc, make it seem like there is one main attack and many others options. If you move half the round and then attack, isn't that attack taking place in the second half and thus in a more compact period than the "abstracted model" of OD&D. Think about it, you could attack anything on the move during that round, but it's not really allowed in 1st and 2nd. Third allows for feats to do this, but it's an add on contrary to the original OD&D abstraction. So the abstraction seems to break up the more elaborate and decorated the combat mechanism becomes.

Moving away from an un-abstracted mechanism has its drawback. Namely : complexity. You have to keep tabs on a lot of things. Unless you can simplify the system greatly, and even then it is nowhere near as simple as OD&D. Players nonetheless demand these details, these actions that spice up the narrative. The character moves, swings, falls back, rolls and jumps up again. Using a non abstracted mechanic allows greater access to these details as they're not abstracted to a single die roll. More so it seems that putting all that detail back onto the combat mechanics, like a coating of detail rules, is more complex than starting from an un-abstracted mechanism to begin with. On top of this it doesn't wear the combatants out, which leads to min-maxing and optimization, as I'll address in a future post.

Working from an un-abstracted mechanism breaks down combat into individual actions. You attack, parry and dodge individually. If such a mechanism has a cost per action instead of a fixed set of actions per round then it becomes even more interesting. You can wage on your opponents actions. Hold back on attacks. Use lighter weapons and armor, ones less "expensive" to use. It also gives more directions in which to improve your character. Speed and agility really kick in and more importantly the choice of initiative. You are committed to defend. It's not like you'll let your opponent take a clean swing at your neck. So holding back, parrying, measuring your opponent is a good strategy now. Making an all out attack that leaves you out of breath to endure the counter attack can become suicidal. As more and more attacks come in you raise your shield once, twice, thrice, and your arm begins to burn. It becomes harder, and as your rolls become worse, as you run out of breath you realize it wasn't such a good thing to strike this round and to do so with such vehemence.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

A few months back when I started work on the base RPG rules I decided that magic would be mana based and so magic users obviously had mana. They had stamina too, to endure some combat damage, but not as much as a fighter. Clerics on the other hand would have willpower points. These allowed them to cast divine magic, unlike the wizards magic which is arcane. So all characters would have stamina, you know to fight. Some character types would have mana and others would have willpower and some would have neither mana nor willpower.

A few iterations later I had put mana and willpower on all character classes. Albeit with greater or lesser strength depending on their class. So even a fighter would have mana and willpower. Yup, the essence of arcane and divine power in a class that is not meant to be casting spells of any type. What made me do such a thing? To practically multiclass from the get go during character generation.

The reasoning was simple. If a magic user needs stamina and hit points to endure combat. Shouldn't a fighter need mana to endure magic item use? The +2 ghoul reaper sword is magical in itself. But it is powered by the character wielding it. If your fighter doesn't have enough mana to power it up, tough luck. To use the sword the character has to level up his mana to reach the required level. Which is in itself the start of another great adventure, don't you think?

I believe this helps keep the game in control. When your character empowers magic items instead of having the magic items empower your character there can't be an power escalating effect that breaks the game. A game mechanics meltdown so to speak. It is the character who sets the caps on what can and can't be done.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

This is a quick intro adventure for the Era RPG I'm making. Shows some of the basic mechanics coming into play. I'm not going too deep into detailing what's going on mechanics wise. Skipping some details on mana usage and combat mechanics. More interested in showing the overall mechanism. Specially the combat, fatigue and damage rules. Hope you enjoy it.

You’re
H’lar a human ranger of the northern mountains of Raakad. Mounted
on a sure footed mule you’ve journeyed up river to the inner
valleys to survey ogre activity in the area. The dwarfs have
reported attacks on the merchant caravans crossing the passes and
connecting the northern trade cities with the southern trade routes.

Finding
more frequent orc and ogrish tracks you have left your mule behind
and advanced on foot instead. You’re now hiding on a forested
outcropping looking at some orc-hounds securing a narrow pass to a
small valley beyond where the orge camp is seen.

To hide H’lar rolls against his Hide Skill. It
is against his Enlightment attribute (12) and done at Master level
(+3). You need to roll 15 or under with 2d10. You roll a 10. The
difference between success and actual roll is 5 (15-10 = 5). This is
exceeding good success and gives you -2(hard) to enemy checks when
searching for you. Any check that succeeds by more than three gains
a bonus.

Your
backpack was left behind near a river you crossed 200 meters back.
You had advanced with sword and bow and your trusted shield tied to
your back. Your hiding skills are excellent, so far the orc-hounds
have not detected you and wind is still in your favor. You
scrutinize the ogre activity beyond trying to measure camp force and
layout. You take note of all you can while the sun is strong above
the camp.

As
the sun begins to cast stronger shadows down the pass you notice the
wind begin to change. Suddenly the org-hounds pick up on your scent
and realize there’s someone in your general direction. They begin
to advance toward you. Three coming your way and one staying down
below in the pass.

The orc-hounds have been rolling every hour to
detect H’lar. They have to roll 14 or less, but the check is done
vs a very difficult difficulty level. The GM dictates It is
initially -2 given H’lars distance to the target. On top of that
H’lar did a superb job at hiding himself. They’ve been needing
to roll less than 10 to succeed. After various unsuccessful rolls
the wind changes and the difficulty due to distance disappears,
leaving only H’lar’s -2 benefit (roll 12 or less, 14 – 2). The
GM rolls a 12 this time and the orc-hounds pick up on the track and
begin to close in on H’lar.

You
crawl back gently and begin to fall back hoping to reach the creek
and use it to lose the scent on you. A few steps back you pick up
your shield and begin to jog quickly uphill. You try to put more
distance between you and the orc-hounds, but it seems a futile
exercise. They’re quick and strong on the track and quickly
catching up. Realizing you wont be able to sprint the last 100
meters to the creek and lose them in time you turn, lay your shield
on the ground, drive three arrows in the ground and prepare your bow.

Looking at the movement table you see H’lar is
loaded as his equipment is more than 15kg (chainmail, sword, bow and
shield). He’s joggin uphill making about 20m/round. He covers
about 100m in one minute (50 seconds = 5 rounds). His movement table
indicates he’s in the cardio cardiovascular level, yet the GM
considers the uphill climb to add another level so he’s actually
sweating it in the hard cardiovascular level. Seeing he can’t keep
up this much longer he turns to fight. He casts Phantom Mist on the
trail to try to confuse the incoming orc-hounds. Casting takes one
round and consumes one action point. This takes him to max
cardiovascular level for that round. He was already at hard due to
running and that meant all his attacks were at -1, now they’re at
-2!. He sets his gear down and takes a break as he sets the arrows
in the ground. The mist slows down the orc-hounds a bit and K’lar
has two rounds to recover. Bringing his cardiovascular level down to
cardio. At this point he has no penalties.

As
the first two run into range you put two arrows out. One to each.

As the orc-hounds break the mist you pump two shots into them. The attack starts with H’lar in cardio level. The first arrow goes off without penalties. You roll a 13 with 2d10 and the orc-hounds roll a 18 defensive roll. They lack shields or equipment to parry so they have a -5 roll penalty. They’re at short range so you have no distance modifiers and they’re coming straight at you so no movement modifiers apply. Their 18 becomes a 13, same as your roll and you hit the first orc-hound.The orc-hound rolls 3d6 soak roll for his armor and you roll 2d8 for your arrow. The rolls are 4, 4, 1 for him and 8, 8 for you ( an excellent strike ). Both 8’s defeat the 4’s and all 16 points go through to the orc-hound. The orc has only 4 points of pain threshold making him suffer a terrible 12 hit points of damage (75% of total). He tries a save vs trauma (roll against Endurance) and fails. He falls to the ground unable to fight.You set off the second arrow which is now done at hard cardiovascular level. Your last action upped your fatigue level to hard cardiovascular. According to your activity table you get only 2 action points for cardio and an attack takes 2 of them (1 for parries). Hard cardiovascular level makes all rolls -1 (attack, parry, dodge and damage). You roll a 9 with 2d10 and the orc rolls 10 defensive. Your 9 is an 8 given your cardiovascular penalty. The orc’s is -5 given ranged weapon. Your attack still hits, but barely. You roll damage for 6 and 2 which become 5 and 1 after the -1. The orc rolls 5, 2 and 1. None of your rolls beat the orc’s soak rolls, no damage is done and you realize you’re beginning to tire.

The
second orc-hound keeps coming. Too close to shoot an arrow you cast
a magic bolt at him.

You’re at hard cardiovascular level and the last
arrow didn’t do anything to the incoming orc. Desperate you drop
the bow and cast needle spells on him. Sharp darts shoot out from
your fingertips. One, two and three go out. The first stressing
your system to max cardiovascular, the second taking you to overload
1, and the third to overload 2. It’s a risk, you make an endurance
check vs 14, roll a 5 with 2d10 and make it. The darts go out. You
make a 19 hit roll vs 12 defense, a 17 vs 15 defense and a 15 vs 15
defense. All your shots hit as all defensive rolls are at -5 ranged
weapon. Your shots were done at -2, -3 and -4 respectively as your
penalty increases with each cardiovascular hike brought by the stress
of casting magic. You got lucky on the last roll, it was an 11
(15-4), but his was a 10 (15 – 5)

You roll 2d6 for damage and the orc rolls 3d6 for
soak. After rolling damage and soak rolls and resolving damage the
orc takes 4, 4 and 6 points of damage on each attack respectively.
The first four do only superficial damage and are easily absorbed by
stamina and the 4 points of pain threshold. Only the last one
exceeds the threshold and causes a 2 hp wound which is too minimal to
stop the orc-hound.

Not
visibly hurt the orc-hound keeps advancing and you see the other one
coming into range now. You could try to make a desperate attempt at
bringing him down with magic bolts, but you need to catch your
breath. You prepare your sword and shield as the orc-hound closes
the last few meters. A new round begins.

The orc moves up slowly clearly waiting for his
buddy to come out of the mist. That time buys you a little bit of
rest and you get down to max level by the time he reaches H’lar.
The orc has the initiative (weapon length) and attacks with his spear
rolling a 6 and you easily parry it with your shield even when
rolling a 4 (4 + 3, shield bonus = 7). He attacks again with a 12
and you parry with a 11 + 3 = 14. Holding on the attacks and only
parrying helps you recover your breath after this round and you’re
down to cardio cardiovascular level now.

The next time he moves up you’re ready for a
counter strike. He wins initiative out of sheer weapon length. He
attacks with a 15 and you parry with an 18+3 = 21. A successful
parry leaves the weapon out of the way and you move in. You swing
with an 11 and he dodges with a 12 ( he can’t parry as his weapon
was just used to attack and he lacks shield ). You separate and
begin again. He attacks with a 5 and you parry with a 9 + 3 = 12.
You move in and attack with the sword. Rolling a 16 vs a 15 for his
dodge you hit. You roll 8, 4 for damage and he rolls 4, 4, 2 for
soak. The 8 points go through, ripping his pain threshold of 4 and
causing a terrible wound. He’s hurt, but not down. Your high roll
of 18 allows you to keep initiative and swing again. You’ll be
pushing your body in this round building too much fatigue and
entering hard cardiovascular. A 15 vs a 6 converts to another hit
even with your -1 due to fatigue. You roll 6, 5 which are 5, 4 after
the -1. The orc rolls 5, 4, 1 and all his soak rolls stop your
damage. It was a good try, but failed to deliver any real damage.
You still have the initiative as you enter the next round.

You begin the next round in hard cardiovascular
level with a -1. As long as your attacks don’t exceed your hard
level action points this round you’re remain at hard and not
ascend. If you use less attacks and just parry you will begin to
recover your breath. For example falling back to just parries will
lower your fatigue. Yet you choose to press for now given your
initiative. You roll a 16 -1 = 15 vs a 13 for dodge and hit. You
roll 7 & 5 for damage and he rolls 5, 2, and 1 for soak. Even
with your fatigue penalty that’s still 6 and 4. All damage goes
through the armor’s soak capacity and delivers 10 points to the
orc. That’s 4 to stamina and 6 to hit points. Another terrible
wound for the orc. The GM rolls a save vs endurance an fails it with
a 16. The orc is stunned. You roll a 10 – 1 = 9 attack roll, and
he rolls a 13 – 5 (stunned) = 8 defense roll. You hit again.
Rolling 6 & 2, 5 and 1 after penalties you fail to damage him
through his armor soak roll of 6, 2, and 1. Still stunned you roll
again. An 18 – 1 = 17 vs a 11 – 5 = 6 defense roll. Another
hit. The orc seems to be recovering so this better be a good damage
roll. You roll 8 & 5, with penalties 7 & 4. They still beat
the orc’s 5, 3 & 2 roll delivering a terrible 13 points of
damage and a killing wound for 9 hit points.

The
orc-hound drops to the ground terribly wounded and dying, but your
problems are hardly over. The third one is closing in quickly. You
get ready to dispatch the last two arrows set in the ground at him.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

This is the third and last article of this series covering character fatigue. In the first article I covered cardio exercise and how heart beat rate can be used as a simple reference to measure character fatigue. In the second article I presented a functional equipment encumbrance rule that allows for easy measurement of character fatigue. Reducing it simply to knowing what character load and speed is desired. Character load is done sporadically, when the character gears up and it is something that doesn't need to be done round by round in combat. Speed is simply decided by the player. Does the character walk, jog, run or sprint to its target? Those two simple pieces of information alone help define how much fatigue the character is building up.

Now we'll see how that comes into play in combat. Combat is a type of fast paced short encounter in which the characters' lives are placed at risk. It is important that they outmaneuver their opponents and finish them off quickly to come out triumphant. The goal of the fatigue based combat mechanism is not so much to create a realistic simulation, but rather to give a countering force to over optimization and support players who look into different weapon and armor layouts for their characters. Instead of limiting a character to a set of attacks or actions per round the character is limited by the cardiovascular system and can do so much before passing out. The player is then allowed more flexibility in the actions the character can perform. Fall back and cover rather than attack, blitz attack with four fast swings, rush a target, etc. To make this functional and fun the mechanism has to be quick and simple. By extending the movement fatigue rules to combat a simple table can be built for the character which allows this mechanism to work with little crunch overhead.

The key to a simple usage is the character load table shown below.

Rest

Fitness

Cardio

Hardcore

Vmax

Overload1

Overload2

Overload3

Endurance Points

0

1/2 END

END

2xEND

3xEND

4xEND

5xEND

6xEND

Fatigue

0

1

2

4

8

16

32

64

Recovery

END/2

END/4

1

0

0

0

0

0

Roll Penalty

0

0

0

-1

-2

-3

-4

-5

This table has a top row indicating the load level the character's cardiovascular system is taking. The following is the explanation for each one:

The second row measures the endurance points being paid by the character. The more endurance points being paid each round the higher the load and thus the heart rate. This row depends on the character's endurance ability as so does the recovery row below.

As an example the following table has values for a character with 12 (average) endurance

Rest

Fitness

Cardio

Hardcore

Vmax

Overload1

Overload2

Overload3

Endurance Points

0

6

12

24

36

48

60

72

Fatigue

0

1

2

4

8

16

32

64

Recovery

6

3

1

0

0

0

0

0

Roll Penalty

0

0

0

-1

-2

-3

-4

-5

In this example if a character does an activity demanding 8 endurance points the character is in the "Fitness" range (above 6 endurance points) and is creating one fatigue point per round and recovering 3. The character will not wear out in the short term. If the character were consuming 18 endurance points he or she would be in the cardio range, consuming 2 points and restoring 1. Every round the character wears out one fatigue point that can only be recovered with rest. Fatigue points are deducted from the fatigue store which equals 5 x endurance. In this case the character has 60 points. At one point per round the character can keep this up for 60 rounds or 600 seconds (5 minutes) without a problem.

Things become complicated when weapons and armor come into play. Swinging a sword, raising a shield to parry, moving around, closing in on the opponent and falling back all demand endurance points. Most combat will occur in the hardcore range and in demanding situation rise into the Vmax and overload ranges. In intense combat a character in the hardcore range will use 4 fatigue points per round. In this example that means 12 continuous rounds, 120 seconds (2 minutes). A player that selects to heavy a weapon might find his or her character quickly rising into the Vmax range. Combat endurance in that range is a mere 60 seconds for an average endurance character. Not only does the body endure less, it begins to suffer penalties in attacks. The physical strain causes a penalty roll in attacks, parries and dodges. The more the character wants to attack the higher the penalty due to muscle fatigue. In this way the mechanism greatly simplifies the usual penalties in armor and weapons that are used against dexterity and strength bonus. Players only need to calculate the encumbrance value of armor and that factors itself into the fatigue and endurance mechanism.

The following example shows how to setup a character with various builds on the character sheet to represent the different tactics the player wants to use.

A player has a choice of armor and weapons for the character. The armor as well as all other equipment will influence encumbrance load. This sets the amount of load to consider when moving and sets the base fatigue for combat. All combat is considered to be done while jogging. This represents the second to second movements the character does. This means 1/2 the character's endurance score is added as cost to each combat round (if unloaded, loaded or encumbered characters pay more). On top of this the character adds attack, parry and dodge fatigue. These values are calculated from the armor and weapons used in a combat layout. A character with chain mail and a sword will have a different fatigue than leather and sword.

The player must thus be thoughtful when selecting the character's weapons and armor. Factor in character strength, endurance and skills. Too heavy a weapon and the character will wear out to fast and will only be able to do one or two attacks per round. Too small a weapon and the damage will be insignificant against heavily armored opponents. Since attacks, parries and dodges count towards round fatigue the player must be careful to reserve enough fatigue to allow the character protection from incoming blows.

Let's take for example the following endurance costs per weapon, armor and shield:

Attacking in leather armor costs half of what it does attacking with chain mail and shield. The character can move faster too as he is less encumbered, but at a greater risk to his skin. So what can the player do to mix this into a combat tactical setup?

We know the character starts with a 6 point endurance cost just for being in combat. And this is considering him unloaded (dropped backpack and all and shield weighs little). How close can the setup get to 24 (hardcore) without actually reaching it. There are 17 points to play with. Leather and sword setup only add 8 per attack and 4 for parry. So a good setup would be one attack and two parries. That's good too keep off the enemy while boarding a ship. You're light and fast.

Chain mail, sword and shield with only parries is a great way to hold off the enemy while recovering. Gets two parries for 16 points and doesn't enter the red zone. The character can slowly recover fatigue points while holding off attacks quite successfully with the shield.

Now lets see what we can do if we enter the red zone of hardcore. We can go up to 36 points, but not reach it. So we have 35 points to play with. We can put in two attacks and a parry for 30 (12 + 12 + 6) points using chain mail and sword. They're all at -1 due to higher fatigue, but we are getting in more attacks per round. Or three attacks and a parry with leather and sword.

But I digress, by now I'm about to lose many of you to the math if I haven't done so already. What's all this number crunching in the middle of a round. Wasn't this meant to be easier not more complex? Well it is simpler. If you take a look all values are multiples of the base endurance costs. So it is easy to tabulate this.

Take for example the following setups (the numbers indicate endurance point costs) :

Chain mail, shield & lance = 7, 3, 5 = 15 attack
& dodge / 8 parry

Chain mail, shield & sword = 7, 3, 7 = 17 attack
& dodge / 9 parry

Chain mail & sword = 7, 7 = 14 attack & dodge
/ 7 parry

Leather, sword = 3, 7 = 10 attack & dodge / 5
parry

I'll simply define the cost to parry as one action point. So in the first setup it takes 8 endurance points to get one action point. The lighter leather armor and sword takes only 5 endurance point per action point. Now as a simple rule I'll state that you need two action points to attack or dodge and one action point to parry. Putting this all together in a table we get the following:

Max Endurance Cost

12

24

36

48

60

72

84

Fatigue

1

2

4

8

16

32

64

Penalties

0

0

-1

-2

-3

-4

-5

Tact Build

Fitness

Cardio

Hardcore

Vmax

Overload 1

Overload 2

Overload 3

Chain mail, shield &
lance

1

2

4

5

7

8

10

Chain mail, shield &
sword

1

2

3

5

6

7

9

Leather & sword

1

3

7

9

11

14

16

Chain mail & sword

1

3

5

6

8

10

11

This table show the max endurance cost per cardio activity range for a character with 12 endurance. Any activity in excess of 12 points leaves the fitness range to enter the cardio range. In the same way any activity beyond 24 leaves cardio to enter hardcore. I simply add action point costs until I exceed the max value and move on to the next cardio range. I repeat this for all the weapon setups I want my character to use and I arrive at the table as shown.

During game play I just read off the action points available per weapon setup. I know the character can perform one action requiring one action point at the fitness range. That is perform only one parry. To attack at least two action points are required. So one attack per round keeps the character in cardio. If in turn the character is attacked twice two parries are required. That adds two more action points to the over all expenditure taking the character into the Vmax range ( 4 action points, 2 for attack and 2 for both parries). At this point the character begins to feel the pinch of physical overload. The two parries are now done at -2. The player is free to call more actions in the turn if the GM deems them physically possible, but fatigue will keep building up.

On the other hand with leather and sword the character can make two sword swings and parry three times while remaining in hardcore range. Just barely breaking a sweat. He could attack once and parry without penalty as given by the three action points in cardio and then attack again and parry twice at -1.

Now movement fits in seamlessly. Recalling from the past article movement counts pretty much as one endurance score cost. That cost is exactly what separates the columns here. So running just means shifting one column to the right. In the past example with the leather and sword setup would allow one attack and one parry within the cardio range. If the character runs the same activity is taken as performed one to the right, that means as hardcore. All attacks are thus at -1 while running (plus any movement and combat specific modifiers). If the character attacks again those attacks that were hardcore while standing still are considered as Vmax at -2 now. If the character sprints all activities are taken as two (2) columns to the left in regards to penalties and fatigue build up.

To sum it up. Adding fatigue allows the game to include a force that counters over optimization in weapon and armor use. Players have more flexibility to configure their characters and get real benefits from their well though out layout. It now makes sense to change from fighting with a spear to a sword. Dropping the shield or taking on lighter armor. There is something that finally adds a benefit to smart weapon layout. Something that counters the "biggest and baddest" weapon philosophy of min-maxing. It also fits seamlessly with the movement rules so it is easy to explain whats going on as the battle progresses. It's easier to include attack as you move maneuvers that add excitement and better narrative to the story.

Finally I'd like to point out that endurance can be changed to thermal heat sink units or any other futuristic game and port this idea to mecha and use it in a sci-fi setting as well.

Hope you like the idea and mechanics. Feedback as always is greatly appreciated.

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

In the past article I made a quick review of heart rate and exercise and how this works to setting the base for determining character fatigue. In this article I'll show the basics of the movement rules in Era and how fatigue fits in.

I'll start with a human load capacity of 10 kg called the base load. Any character carrying less than the base load is said to be "unloaded". A character that carries over the base load is said to be loaded up to 1.5 times the base load and is said to be encumbered if over 1.5 the base load (loaded weight).

The following table shows the amount of load a character can carry based on the strength.

Strength to Load Table

STR

Load Modifier

Unloaded

(up to)

Loaded

(up to)

Encumbered

(up to)

3-6

0.5

5Kg

10Kg

15Kg

7

0.75

7.5Kg

15Kg

22.5Kg

8

0.75

7.5Kg

15Kg

22.5Kg

9-12

1

10Kg

20Kg

30Kg

13

1.5

15Kg

30Kg

45Kg

14

1.5

15Kg

30Kg

45Kg

15

2

20Kg

40Kg

60Kg

16

4

40Kg

80Kg

120Kg

17

10

100Kg

200Kg

300Kg

18

20

200Kg

400Kg

600Kg

Then I set four different speeds which will correspond to the different levels of exercise explained in the previous article (warm up, fitness, cardio and hardcore). The speed values are given below.

Base Speed

Walk (Base move ) : 5Km/h 14m/round 40”/round

Jog : 7.5Km/h 21m/round 60”/round

Run : 10Km/h 28m/round 80”/round

Sprint : 15Km/h 35m/round 120”/round

round = 10 seconds

So how much does a character tire while running? Well the interesting thing is that characters will tire the same under the same load and same exercise. So a character that jogs will jog at 60 - 70% max heart rate when unloaded. A character with higher strength will be able to carry more and jog a bit faster than others, but overall the load to the cardiovascular system is the same. This leads us to the simplified fatigue, load and speed table below. On the first row we see the unloaded performance. One you would see from a 10K runner or a marathoner. Walk causes no wear at all and unless done for prolonged periods it would cause no significant fatigue. Jogging causes one half of the Fatigue Recovery (FR) to be used up. Fatigue recovery is nothing more than the constitution or endurance attribute of the character. As the character begins to run the body can no longer replenish oxygen at the same rate and wear equals fatigue recovery. The character is now in the cardio heart beat range. As the character pushes the envelope and sprints he or she reaches the anaerobic range of VO2max and the body begins to quickly lose stored energy. After a few seconds or a minute or two of sprinting the character will wear out.

If we load the character down the values move one to the left. Walking now becomes a fitness and fat burning exercise. Jogging is now cardio and running which was once cardio is now hardcore VO2max exercise. Running wears the character out just like a sprint did before, but does so at an overall lower movement speed. To reach spring speeds the character must push even harder wearing the body out quicker. Fatigue wears out at three times the recovery rate.

Finally if the character is encumbered then even walking is a cardio activity. Jogging is now extreme VO2max activity and running and sprinting are near superhuman efforts. Under these encumbrance loads walking requires periodic rest to recover energy and oxygen to the muscles. Marching for over half an hour is an strenuous task even for the well trained.

Fatigue, Load and Speed Table

Load

Walk

Jog

Run

Sprint

Unloaded

0

½ FR

1xFR

2xFR

Loaded

½ x FR

1xFR

2xFR

3xFR

Encumbered

1xFR

2xFR

3xFR

4xFR

As you can see using cardiovascular load as a reference it is easy to factor in fatigue without a lot of bean counting in the process. Just base yourself off the encumbrance load the character can carry and assume all speeds are the same for all characters. A consideration can be added for special training or conditioning or higher constitution characters can have a bonus in speed, but this should not be too great and would be better based on age. For example I can run a 10k in 45 to 48 minutes while the winner does it in 30 minutes. That's a 35% drop in time at the cost of extensive training. So getting too specific on actual speed beyond the ballpark values given here might make little sense unless the character enjoys extensive training.

In the next article I'll explain how all this fits into the fast actions and combat rules. The objective of the rules is to create a way to represent what a character can do in a round without being bound by rules like 2 attacks per round, or one spell per round. Also to factor in weapon and armor effect on fatigue so players can look into more interesting characters that still make combat sense. Instead of the classic biggest armor and biggest sword possible. It also looks at integrating movement as an integral part of combat, not the move and attack, but rather attack on the move and choose different ways to move, speeds and loads. Should I jettison my backpack prior to combat. Move in with shield and sword or buckler and spear? Overall look for different gear layouts that give the character and edge in combat.

Almost two months ago I wrote this article suggesting to wear characters out instead of making all weapons have equal damage. I mentioned that characters should wear out during combat to represent their choice of weapon and armor. This is proposed as an opposing force to weapon/armor min maxing. After all if you choose a big bad ass battle axe that does terrible damage you're still got to swing it. Swinging a big axe is more demanding than swinging a sword and more so than slashing with a dagger. Back then I called for a mechanism that represents character fatigue and gives the little guy an edge with lighter weapons and armor. This doesn't mean a wizard with a dagger can take down a knight in full armor because he tires slower. It is more of a counter force to maxing on weapons and armor. Give a clear benefit to gearing up light.

Since then I've been working on a simple way to represent this. After all the idea is no good if it is too complicated to implement. If it takes more math to do this and it extends combat resolution time it will be a no go.

After doing some number crunching and doing some simulations and ideas on how to represent this I've come down with a way to do this in a realistic yet simple manner. Initially I based the mechanism on keeping tabs on fatigue points and how much an action costs (as you can see here). Yet that is too complex a mechanism that requires too much math from round to round. To simplify this I fell back on the idea of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. I'll go over this so you know what angle I'm coming from.

A human has a max heart rate given by 220 minus age. So a 30 year old has a max HR (heart rate) of 190 beats per minute. A forty year old would have 180 beats per minute and so on. We'll call this max value VO2max (Max volume of oxygen). Measuring VO2max is a little more complicated and requires equipment to measure. But for discussion sake we'll take VO2max as max heart beat beyond which the circulatory system can't provide more oxygen to the body and the muscles begin to starve.

Now I'll set different steps leading up to VO2max. Resting or normal activity is 50% of max heart rate. Up to 60% is warm up exercise. Activity producing 70% is fat burning fitness exercise. Up to 80% is cardio training (aerobic). Up to 90% is hardcore (anaerobic) exercise and beyond that we approach VO2max and extremely demanding exercise.

A human can perform activities in the resting and warm up area almost indefinitely. For example walking or marching. This of course might require certain training to endure the physical demand. For example blisters, cramps etc in parts that are not used to do such an activity. Fitness exercise can be done for an hour or so while cardio can be maintained for less. Hardcore anaerobic exercise can be maintained for a few minutes and much less so exercise leading up to VO2max.

The key is mapping character activities to these ranges. Movement, encumbrance, attacks, constitution, strength all come into play to define how much a character can do in a single round of combat. This may seem like a daunting task now, but as we'll see it can be greatly simplified if I take certain considerations.

Think of it this way VO2max is like a jet planes full military power. Only way to go over that is kicking in the after-burner, but the engine will overheat and drink fuel like crazy. Below full military power engines will produce a certain amount of thrust based on their design. At 60% thrust one engine will provide more than another if it's a more powerful one. In the same way a fit character (read constitution here) will have more output than one with less for the same given heart rate. So it's not necessary to do complicated math, just figure out the point at which a character reaches each level of exercise. For example at a jogging speed all characters will have the same heart rate. Some will be able to carry more or run faster or longer, but the heart rate will be the same.

In next the article I will cover fatigue and movement to explain the basic principles. Combat related fatigue will be covered in the third article of this series. Stay tuned.